---
title: Roadmap
description: Our plans for evolving Model Context Protocol
---

<Info>Last updated: **2025-10-31**</Info>

The Model Context Protocol is rapidly evolving. This page outlines our priorities for **the next release on November 25th, 2025**, with a release candidate available on November 11th, 2025. To see what's changing in the upcoming release, check out the **[specification changelog](/specification/draft/changelog/)**.

For more context on our release timeline and governance process, read our [blog post on the next version update](https://blog.modelcontextprotocol.io/posts/2025-09-26-mcp-next-version-update/).

<Note>

The ideas presented here are not commitments—we may solve these challenges differently than described, or some may not materialize at all. This is also not an _exhaustive_ list; we may incorporate work that isn't mentioned here.

</Note>

We value community participation! Each section links to relevant discussions where you can learn more and contribute your thoughts.

For a technical view of our standardization process, visit the [Standards Track](https://github.com/orgs/modelcontextprotocol/projects/2/views/2) on GitHub, which tracks how proposals progress toward inclusion in the official [MCP specification](https://spec.modelcontextprotocol.io).

## Priority Areas for the Next Release

### Asynchronous Operations

Currently, MCP is built around mostly synchronous operations. We're adding async support to allow servers to kick off long-running tasks while clients can check back later for results. This will enable operations that take minutes or hours without blocking.

Follow the progress in [SEP-1686](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1686).

### Statelessness and Scalability

As organizations deploy MCP servers at enterprise scale, we're addressing challenges around horizontal scaling. While [Streamable HTTP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-03-26/basic/transports#streamable-http) provides some stateless support, we're smoothing out rough edges around server startup and session handling to make it easier to run MCP servers in production.

The current focus point for this effort is [SEP-1442](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1442).

### Server Identity

We're enabling servers to advertise themselves through [`.well-known` URLs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-known_URI)—an established standard for providing metadata. This will allow clients to discover what a server can do without having to connect to it first, making discovery much more intuitive and enabling systems like our registry to automatically catalog capabilities. We are working closely across multiple projects in the industry to rely on a common standard on agent cards.

### Official Extensions

As MCP has grown, valuable patterns have emerged for specific industries and use cases. Rather than leaving everyone to reinvent the wheel, we're officially recognizing and documenting the most popular protocol extensions. This curated collection will give developers building for specialized domains like healthcare, finance, or education a solid starting point.

### SDK Support Standardization

We're introducing a clear tiering system for SDKs based on factors like specification compliance speed, maintenance responsiveness, and feature completeness. This will help developers understand exactly what level of support they're getting before committing to a dependency.

### MCP Registry General Availability

The [MCP Registry](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry) launched in preview in September 2025 and is progressing toward general availability. We're stabilizing the v0.1 API through real-world integrations and community feedback, with plans to transition from preview to a production-ready service. This will provide developers with a reliable, community-driven platform for discovering and sharing MCP servers.

## Validation

To foster a robust developer ecosystem, we plan to invest in:

- **Reference Client Implementations**: demonstrating protocol features with high-quality AI applications
- **Reference Server Implementation**: showcasing authentication patterns and remote deployment best practices
- **Compliance Test Suites**: automated verification that clients, servers, and SDKs properly implement the specification

These tools will help developers confidently implement MCP while ensuring consistent behavior across the ecosystem.

## Get Involved

We welcome your contributions to MCP's future! Join our [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/orgs/modelcontextprotocol/discussions) to share ideas, provide feedback, or participate in the development process.
